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When I was in the 5th grade I took my first snowboarding lesson. I got a bit frustrated because the instructor "wasted" a good hour of the day teaching us how to fall safely. As I got older and began to notice how many people fell incorrectly -- breaking their wrists. I took it for granted then, but the fact is everyone screws up when learning something new -- so I'm glad he took the time to instill falling on the forearms to the point of second nature. Unfortunately, the same doesn't seem to be true for drifting. "Go out and try it in a safe spot" is pretty much what you'll hear, although there are few safe spots I know of that don't have the occasional obsticle. So in the spirit of learning how to fall, here's learning how to spin:
You've just entered a standard corner at a high angle and are sliding at full lock when you go just a bit too far. Chances are you'll jam on the brakes and slide to a stop (non-abs car) -- but where does that take you? Any four wheel skid will simply continue your car's path at the time you locked up the brakes. This technique is good if you're sliding around a corner with a curb or enbankment on the inside. But if you have a lightpole on the outside it's bad. So what should you do instead?
You're at that same high-angle drift in mid-corner and have just passed the point of no return. Instead of slamming on the brakes, you gently push on them, modulating the pedal so the tires never lock up. This will allow the car to continue to rotate (while slowing down) so the car will either do a 180 on the road, or will slide to the infeild (if the car continues to go straight you can apply some handbrake and/or remove some of the countersteer).
Bear in mind that these two techniques are the most useful at low to medium speeds (under 60mph). Any faster than that, and it would take well over 100 feet to stop so chances are greater that you'd still find something to hit. But having some control is better than none, so I hope this may be of some use to the beginners.
You've just entered a standard corner at a high angle and are sliding at full lock when you go just a bit too far. Chances are you'll jam on the brakes and slide to a stop (non-abs car) -- but where does that take you? Any four wheel skid will simply continue your car's path at the time you locked up the brakes. This technique is good if you're sliding around a corner with a curb or enbankment on the inside. But if you have a lightpole on the outside it's bad. So what should you do instead?
You're at that same high-angle drift in mid-corner and have just passed the point of no return. Instead of slamming on the brakes, you gently push on them, modulating the pedal so the tires never lock up. This will allow the car to continue to rotate (while slowing down) so the car will either do a 180 on the road, or will slide to the infeild (if the car continues to go straight you can apply some handbrake and/or remove some of the countersteer).
Bear in mind that these two techniques are the most useful at low to medium speeds (under 60mph). Any faster than that, and it would take well over 100 feet to stop so chances are greater that you'd still find something to hit. But having some control is better than none, so I hope this may be of some use to the beginners.
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